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Top 10 Bodyweight Exercises for Intermediate Parkour Athletes

Posted on
July 10, 2016

In parkour, athletes learn to turn the world into a playground. But they should also learn to use common objects like trees, rails, benches, and walls as exercise equipment. Even though I recommend some basic weightlifting for intermediate and advanced athletes, you can still get a great workout by doing only bodyweight exercises. In this article, I have compiled a list of my top 10 bodyweight exercises for intermediate level parkour practitioners. Looking for even more on the subject? Check out my book, Parkour Strength Training.

#10 L-sit

A classic gymnastics exercise, the L-sit is a phenomenal exercise for developing full body tension and abdominal and hip flexor strength and flexibility. With the obvious similarities between parkour and gymnastics conditioning, an L-sit is a great core exercise addition to any traceur’s training regimen.

#9 Cat Balance

Cat balance is a technique used to move along the tops of narrow obstacles such as rails, walls, or I-beams. By keeping the center of gravity low and having more points of contact with the obstacle, cat balancing can be safer, faster, and more stable than moving on two feet. Because every muscle in the body helps in balancing and moving along the obstacle, the cat balance is a great conditioning exercise, particularly for the legs, forearms, and shoulders.

#8 Toes to Bar

Toes to bar is a great core exercise with perfect application to a fundamental skill needed in parkour; the ability to lift your body from a hanging position without changing the orientation of your arms. In order to do many techniques including underbars, pullovers, kips, and laches, you cannot rely on only lifting your body with your arms, you must also learn to lift your body while maintaining the same arm angle in relation to the ground. Toes to bar are like knees to elbows, but require a bit more strength and flexibility to execute.

#7 Tuck Planche

After the frog stand, the tuck planche is the second level of the planche progressions. All of the planche progressions are a great way to increase your ability to create and sustain full body tension. By developing your planche progressions, you will develop incredible strength, especially in your shoulders, arms, and core. This will translate to better climb ups, vaults, handstands, and more.

#6 Front Lever (Advanced Tuck)

The front lever is an incredible exercise for developing full body tension and pulling strength in your arms and back. While a fully laid out front lever may not be necessary for parkour athletes to pursue, a solid advanced tuck front lever will help strengthen your climb-ups, muscle-ups, and more.

#5 Freestanding Handstand

The handstand is an essential fundamental skill in gymnastics and should be in other movement arts as well. Handstands increase upper body strength, spatial awareness, and balance. Also, the handstand is a great way to become familiar with controlling the body in an inverted state, making it a vital introduction to falling, tumbling, and acrobatics.

#4 Pistol

Pistols are a phenomenal way to build single leg strength and mobility while also challenging your balance and coordination. Pistols are one of the few bodyweight leg exercises that will adequately challenge somebody beyond a beginner level. Due to the nature of parkour, single leg exercises are extremely important to ensure that you remain strong and stable during movements like strides, tic tacs, cuts, and wall runs.

#3 Eccentric Glute Ham Raise

Eccentric glute ham raises (GHRs) combined with push-up assisted GHRs are the best way to work up to doing unassisted GHRs. By letting down as slow as possible, you can develop the same strength needed to go back up. By adding in a little bit of a push up from the ground, it makes it possible to still back up and challenge yourself through the full range of motion. One of the best and hardest bodyweight leg exercises you can do, GHRs isolate the glutes and hamstrings, the two most vital muscles for jumping and sprinting power.

#2 Climb-up

A variation of the muscle-up, climb-ups are used to climb up and over a wall from the hanging position. Climb-ups are used extensively in parkour; after doing wall pops, cat leaps, and climbing in general. The climb-up builds the necessary strength and coordination to overcome any shape wall and is an invaluable skill for any practitioner.

#1 Depth Jump for Height

The depth jump for height is one of the most useful plyometric exercises for increasing jumping power. By jumping off an object and immediately back up as high as you can, you will develop reactive strength which means more explosive jumps. WARNING: This exercise can be extremely high-impact. Be sure to start out with small objects and only do this exercise if you already have strong legs.